'Legs' - O. briareus

[CaptFish]

She is only aggressive too me when I try and ration her food., but we still play alot and she lets me touch and pet her mantle whenever I want. I think she is about eight months, I guess her birthday at about april/15/09.

ok so I did the math again and a growth rate of 2-3% a day is too much, its 2% a week. I did the math wrong the first time around. (2.5", 3", 3.5", 4.25", 4.9"...)

 

[Nancy]

Those are wonderful close-ups you're getting, with excellent color and detail.

It seems that some octopuses of a given species grow larger than others. People involved with breeding or raising octopuses have mentioned this to me, and have spoken of "large dominant octopuses".

I once thought that increasing appetite meant that the octopus was headed towards leg laying in a few months, but now I'm not so sure. I had a bimac that grew larger than average, even though the eggs she eventually laid were infertile.

It's quite a priviledge to have a large octopus to play with and pet - think how few people will ever have this oppontunity!

Nancy

 

[CaptFish]

Those are wonderful close-ups you're getting, with excellent color and detail.

I know aren't they great, you should see the originals they're over 12 mega-pixels!! (4288x2848) they were taken with a Nikon D300 and some special LED lights

It's quite a priviledge to have a large octopus to play with and pet - think how few people will ever have this oppontunity!

I'm afraid whatever octo I get after Legs wont be able to live up to fill her shoes, I've been spoiled !

I once thought that increasing appetite meant that the octopus was headed towards leg laying in a few months, but now I'm not so sure. I had a bimac that grew larger than average, even though the eggs she eventually laid were infertile.

I too was scared that her increased appetite meant she was going to lay eggs, but so far nothin. I am almost positive Leg's eggs will be infertile as I caught her when she was about the size of a dime.

 

[DWhatley]

I'm afraid whatever octo I get after Legs wont be able to live up to fill her shoes, I've been spoiled !

As with many firsts

I am waiting on a reply from Tom about a statement on his web site that may prove interesting. You found Legs in a group, Tom has a note on the website that suggests he has kept them together (but they may have been kept isolated), we are seeing group behavior in the Aussie thread (jugglematt), Zyan Silver kept multiple bimac together and several of us have kept multiple mercs. I am starting to wonder about the possibilities of mating the briareus. I know Roy does not leave his mating pairs together unsupervised and I want to ask him why but I think a lot more experimentation is justified. After Maya completes her life cycle I will have a tank that can take a male (assuming Creepy is female and will not out grow the typically too small tank - I have assumed not, gauging from the arm growth rate I expect but time will tell.) If Creepy turns out to be male then I have a starting base if I get serious about the idea.

 

[CaptFish]

Well I decide to remove all of Leg's Tank mates as she had become quite aggressive towards everyone. I got everyone out except three tangs that are not cooperating! I caught most of the fish with a hook and line and a piece of shrimp. The last three Tangs have small mouths so I cant hook them.

Other than that Legs is great still eating a ton, her growth rate seems to have slowed, her mantle reached 5" and seems to be holding there. I very slowly lowered the tank temp over the last four days to match the temps where I caught her, 75 deg. I figured I would let her go through a winter period as she would in the wild. So far i see no change.

 

[DWhatley]

AM had heat issues during the beginning of Kalypso's winter and the temps got quite low (below 70) without impact.

 

[CaptFish]

I am just trying to emulate the temp. she would encounter in the wild. Very rarely do our water temps get below 70.

 

[DWhatley]

Oops, I was not suggesting that you keep the tank at ambient house temps but just wanted to mention that they seem to take LOWERED temp changes easily.

 

[CaptFish]

Snapped another photo. she is doing great still. I still cant catch the last two Tang's, a yellow, and a sailfin, I guess they will be food. oh well.

 

[CaptFish]

Grabbed some new video while she was out and about....

 

[DWhatley]

A passerby to the forum once mentioned that just watching the videos of briareus was enjoyable and relaxing. Something about their grace makes you drop your troubles for a few minutes I think.

 

[CaptFish]

I have to agree they are amazing to watch the way the thier movements are so fluid.


reposted so they are on the new page:

 

[CaptFish]

Hmmm as brought to my attention all the videos I posted on TONMO don't work so I will post all the you tube links:

first video:
June 23, 2009 octopusfeeding

june 27, 2009 clip of my octopus

july 10 feed me dance

july 11 legs being curious and changing colors

sept 24 cruising with legs

sept 24 pet octopus
Pet Octopus

nov 4 Legs goes shriming:
Legs Goes Shrimping




I realize from my pics and video its hard to tell how huge she is so I put my hand in front of her so get a size comparison.

 

[DWhatley]

Tony has promised to lock himself in a dark room and not see the light of day until all the old features are returned sometime during the last two weeks of the year. 2010 should bring back our missing video, photo album and article access. Upgrades of base software, particularly when you have had to modify the old base and/or add-ons don't have newer versions to run on the new version of the languages. I am putting off the inevitable for some of my stuff knowing the pain.

 

[CaptFish]

Update:

Doing GREAT!!! I'm still very confused as to why she has grown soooo huge. her mantle is bigger than my fist. I have read most of the other Briareus's journals and none of then seem to get this big. She has grown too big to fit in her den and just hangs out in front of it trying to hide as much of herself as she can. She still eats about 12 live shrimp a day. She almost broke my finger playing tug-o-war, I wasn't being as attentive as I should have been while playing with her, and she swam the opposite direction I was expecting'; she almost pulled my finger 90 degs in the wrong direction! I have to be careful and make sure I keep my hand lined up in the direction she is tugging.

mantle length: 5"
mantle width: 3.25"
mantle circum.: 9.5"
spread: unknown
Reach: 21"
freeswim length: 11"